Georgio Italiano

Product Description

A dying American WWII vet tells his story to his son during his final months - his story of becoming a pilot, of flying overseas and entering combat, of being shot down, of going from cockpit to caveman, and of being on the run for 78 days behind German lines north of Florence in Tuscany in 1944, of finally being liberated by American troops - and of joyously arriving home and being reunited with his wife on their Fifth Wedding Anniversary.

Customer Reviews:

A Story for the Historically Challenged.......2003-07-14

For those that are 'historically challenged' this is a story of the factual events during war time. It encompases the deep devotion of family; both genetic, and chosen. Aprehensive at first to read a 'historical' book, I found myself captivated by the fast 'what-happens-next' pace. Once reading this book, which only took 2 days; I found a fonder sense of what it is to call someone family. I recomend this book to anyone interested in a tailspin story of love, fear, friendship, and heroism.

The Great Generation Extra Ordinaire.......2001-05-16

This book tells how it actually was in WW II. The fear,the human care for one another, and most of all the elite friendship creatd by this Italian family. This book should be read by the current generation to make things right once again. Tom Brokow should be in on this one. Sincerely,

Michael E De Frank

The Great Generation Extra Ordinaire.......2001-05-16

Michael E De Frank

Not your typical war story........2001-04-10

Georgio Italiano has both emotional and dramatic qualities with dashes of humor thrown in. It is truly a testament to basic humanity, the love between husband and wife, and a son's love for his father. The author, H. D. George, quickly gains your attention and keeps it throughout the book, right down to the postwar epilogue. Photographs and newspaper articles add interest as does the copy of the dreaded Telegram from the War Department. The author has taken the wartime events of his father's life and transformed it into a riveting story!

Average customer rating:

Sincere and empathic, but oversimplifies treatment issues

Withholding treatment for a depressed teen is irresponsible

All kids need psychiatric drugs!

More Than Moody

A must read for all parents of teens

More Than Moody : Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression
Harold Koplewicz
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

Understanding Teenage Depression: A Guide to Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management

When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens

It's Nobody's Fault: New Hope and Help for Difficult Children and Their Parents

Adolescent Depression: A Guide for Parents (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)

Helping Your Depressed Teenager: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers

ASIN: B000GG4GWG

Book Description

One of the nation's most distinguished child and adolescent psychiatrists shows parents the warning signs, risk factors, and key symptoms that offer important clues about depression. He also illustrates a broad range of treatment options including SSRI antidepressants as well as non-pharmaceutical approaches such as cognitive behavior therapy. With solid advice and compelling real-life stories, More Than Moody is an invaluable resource.

Customer Reviews:

Sincere and empathic, but oversimplifies treatment issues.......2004-04-12

*More Than Moody* is an interesting and very readable book that should be very helpful to parents who want to understand the warning signs of depression in their teen or college-age kids. Depression is discouragingly common today among young people, and all too often parents--especially those with with ambitious, successful kids--refuse to admit their child might have a problem. This denial is understandable, but it often has disasterous consequences. Dr. Kopelwicz does a good job of showing that severe depression can strike any young person, often for no apparent reason, and that avoiding the problem is not an option.

This book's major failing is that it grossly oversimplifies the complexity of depression, and makes treating it look much easier than it often is. Dr. Koplewicz seems to believe--almost as an article of faith--that making a depressed teen well is simply a matter of getting them to take their Prozac, or possibly some other SSRI. This was his approach to Jesse, a high achieving college student disabled by persistent depression.

Jesse's case study was extremely interesting--particularly in showing the ways his successful parents dealt with their gifted son's increasingly severe decline. Jesse's story also revealed a number of problems with Dr. Koplewicz treatment philosophy.

Jesse apparently did better when he was on Prozac, but quit taking it repeatedly. Dr. Koplewicz blames the length and severity of Jesse's depressive episodes on his noncompliance, and his failure to see himself as having a diseased brain that needed drugs to function effectively. Koplewicz laments that it took Jesse six years to graduate from Duke because he wouldn't accept reality and take his pills, and takes some pleasure in reporting that at 30 and on Paxil, Jesse understands that he will need to be take his pills for life. At this point Jesse was supporting himself in the computer industry, but was having trouble with his girlfriend because of his difficulty connecting with her emotionally. (Incidently, emotional flatness [and male sexual dysfunction] is a common side effect of SSRI's like Prozac and Paxil, but Koplewicz declines to share this with the reader.)

Koplewicz doesn't seem to realize that for an adolescent attempting to find his or her own identity, taking a drug that alters personality could cause a frightening confusion over who he or she really was. By effectively forcing Jesse to take Prozac (under threat of hospitalization or expulsion), Koplewicz turned a simple treatment option into a terrifying assault on an immature young man's still-uncertain sense of self. A wiser psychiatrist would have ensured that Jesse had regular psychotherapy to help him with his developmental issues, and would have emphasized that medication was a tool for relieving symptoms, and that if Jesse had problems with one drug, they could try another, or see how therapy alone would work. Koplewicz's overconfidence in the SSRI's and denial of their side effects repeatedly turns his interventions with teenagers into power struggles, in which he becomes [in his young patients' minds] a hostile force determined to brand them defective and drug them into obedience.

Koplewicz simply doesn't seem to know much about how teenagers think. If adolescents feel that their feelings and concerns are being taken seriously, and that they have a choice of treatment options, they are much more likely to be compliant. Therapy is pretty much essential for teen depression--not only can it resolve many cases without medication--it can give a teen a way to work out their feelings and conflicts about using medication, making compliance much more likely.

In general, the reader should know that the SSRI's like Prozac do not work for some people and may have intolerable side effects, like feelings of unreality, emotional numbness, and for males, impotence. Many other drugs are available, though, and a good doctor will be aggressive in finding one (or a combination) that is effective and has an acceptable side-effect profile. If your teen is seriously depressed make sure (in addition to therapy) he or she is seeing a doctor who is comfortable prescribing the older antidepressants (TCA's and MAOI's). They remain the most effective antidepressants known, and can be lifesavers for those who don't respond to the modern drugs.

Withholding treatment for a depressed teen is irresponsible.......2003-08-13

This is a terrific book with tons of great information.
It's not a silly pop psychology book that advocates medicating all teens...

Why are so many people against diagnosing and medicating adolescent depression. Only a parent with a child suffering from depression could understand the horror of watching your teen self-destruct before your eyes and not know what is happening.

The book helped me understand how important diagnosis and medication is for a depressed teen. The book also validates what a parent experiences when you live with an adolescent who has unrecognized, unmediated depression. To withhold treatment and medication for a Depressed teenager would be irresponsible parenting.

All kids need psychiatric drugs!.......2002-11-01

Koplewics has long been a leading advocate of psychiatric drugs for kids. In a June 17, 1999 story for Salon.com he said, "I actually think we're not medicating kids enough." This book is his attempt to get more kids on mind-altering drugs.

It is simply astonishing how Koplewics ignores the mountains of evidence in his own book that childhood problems have non-biological causes (relationships, life events, cultural factors) and real physical causes (e.g., hormones) and instead pushes pills - without offering a shred of evidence that these kids have bad brains. Of course, in this regard he displays a common trait of psychiatrists - the dismissal of the obvious in favor of the hypothetical and untestable.

Just so no kid misses his or her pharmocological treat, there are the multitude of different types of depression followed by the all encompassing caveat: "none of this is etched in stone." In other words, don't be discouraged if your kid doesn't meet all the criteria. We've got a diagnosis for everyone. (One is reminded of the statement in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)(xxii): "In DSM-IV, there is not assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder." Imagine a real doctor saying diabetes is not a distinct entity with boundaries dividing it from cancer, an infection or complete health.)

There are the unquestioned and unexamined platitudes: "adolesence is demoralizing almost by definition." Understandable feelings are redefined as "symptoms" of illness. A fear of the future (we're all so confident of the future, aren't we?) becomes "Generalized Anxiety Disorder." Fears of the family well-being (imagine a kid being concerned about that!) become "Separation Anxiety Disorder."

Koplewics writes, "It's the duration of the symptoms that tell if a teenager has crossed the line into depression." Says who? Psychiatrist Nancy Andreasen, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry, has written (Science, vol. 275,14 March 97), "thresholds based upon duration ... are boundaries of convenience ... not boundaries with any inherent biological meaning."

Koplewics attitude towards children is often patronizing. One girl's description of a horrible childhood is described by Koplewics as "the product of the drama of adolescence."

Questionable "facts" and outright untruth abound in the book. According to Koplewics, the newer antidepressants (SSRIs) "have fewer side-effects" and "have always been found to be more effective than placebos." Not so. In his 1999 textbook, The Fundamentals of Clinical Neuropsychiatry, Dr. Michael Alan Taylor writes, "It is a mistake to think that one class of drug is `safer' or has `fewer' side effects .... Taylor specifically cites claims about the SSRIs

A July, 2002 analysis by George Washington University's Thomas Moore of 47 studies used by the FDA in approving six antidepressants found that in over half the studies, the drugs were no better than placebo. The overall slight benefit antidepressants had over placebo were found to be "not meaningful for people in clinical settings."

Koplewics ignores the side-effects of drugs and the withdrawal effects. Failed treatment is excused because, of course, one never recovers from psychiatric "illness." Typical is this statement: "That Jesse [treated with drugs as an adolescent] has depression as an adult is not a surprise."

Ho-hum. Failed treatment is all part of a days work.

More Than Moody.......2002-10-13

This book is a real page turner! I could not put it down. As a teenager I suffered from severe bouts of depression and I wish a book like this was available for my parents to read. Now as a parent of an adolescent who suffers from depression I can empathize with the teenagers, their parents and the stories in this book. More than Moody is not filled with a lot of psycho babble, but rather with easy to read and comprehend stories and situations we can all relate to and the various treatments available. Thank you Dr. Koplewicz for giving my family the thing we've been searching for - Thank you for giving us hope.

A must read for all parents of teens.......2002-10-08

As a mother who has two children that have suffered from teenage depression, this book is a true breath of fresh air. Koplewicz sheds light to the distiction between regular behavior and clinical depression in an entertaining and informative way that I have not experienced after personally researching the topic for five years.

Thank you Dr. Koplewicz.

Average customer rating:

One of the Best Basic Cook Books

Keep Cooking - the Maine Way
Marjorie Standish
Manufacturer: Down East Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
New England | U.S. Regional | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Cooking Down East

Seafood: Down East Recipes

Chowders, Soups, and Stews

ASIN: 0892723912

Customer Reviews:

One of the Best Basic Cook Books.......2007-07-12

Marjorie Standish Cook Books are wonderful cook books for everyday food. She uses ingredients which would be commonly found in many home pantries or the corner supermarket. Her instructions are easy to follow for the novice cook and produce wonderful results. I have used her first cook book COOKING DOWN EAST for many years, and the purchase of these cook books are for another generation of budding cooks!

Average customer rating:

Keep Cooking the Maine Way E/5
Books Gannett , and Marjorie Standish
Manufacturer: Gannett Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Cooking Down East

ASIN: 0930096150

Keep Cooking the Maine Way, More Favorite Maine Recipes

Average customer rating:

Keep Cooking the Maine Way, More Favorite Maine Recipes
Marjorie Standish
Manufacturer: Maine Sunday Telegram
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JL85WU

Average customer rating:

Keep cooking - the Maine way;: More favorite Maine recipes
Marjorie Standish
Manufacturer: Maine Sunday Telegram
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006CC2SU

Average customer rating:
Poi Dogs & Popoki
Hawaiian Humane Society
Manufacturer: Watermark Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963115464

Book Description

A treasure for animal lovers, Hawaiiana enthusiasts and historians. Poi Dogs & Popoki captures with photographs and fascinating stories, the history of Hawaii's animals. From King Kamehameha III's loyal dog to today's beloved pets, animals have left an indelible paw print on Island culture.

Average customer rating:

Poi Dogs and Popoki
D. J. Myers
Manufacturer: Daniel James Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0681028211

Average customer rating:
Beading Basics: 30 Embellishing Techniques for Quilters
Mary Stori
Manufacturer: C&T Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Beadwork | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Beaded Embellishment: Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth (Beadwork How-To series)

The Stori of Beaded Embellishment (That Patchwork Place)

Beading on Fabric: Encyclopedia of Bead Stitch Techniques

Quilt Toppings: Fun and Fanciful Embellishments

Bead Creative Art Quilts

ASIN: 1571202374

Book Description

Developed specifically with quilters in mind, Beading Basics offers savvy tips and techniques for adding beaded embellishments to fabric. Thirty beading stitches and techniques show novices how to get started and take more experienced stitchers to the next level. A gallery of stunning beaded quilts will inspire any quilter to add a twinkle, sparkle, or shimmer to their next quilting project. Step-by-step instructions with detailed full-color how-to photographs ensure successful beading for every project.

Customer Reviews:

The Son/Husband's perspective.......2000-03-25

I read this book in order to understand my troublesome triangle. It was very informative and insightful. I was amazed at how much each chapter significantly related to the events which are unfolding in my life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs advice on how to balance the relationship between these three people.

Average customer rating:

But I like it like it yes ah doo....

Tough read, but worth the memories

It Was All Just Rock-'n'-Roll II: A Return to the Center of the Radio & Concert Universe
Pat O'Day , and Jim Ojala
Manufacturer: Ballard Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0970626487

Book Description

This is the completely revised and updated second edition of Pat O'Day's best-selling memoir, "It Was All Just Rock 'n' Roll: A Journey to the Center of the Radio & Concert Universe." The first edition, now out of print, has been selling used for as much as $190 on Amazon.com! This second edition contains over 2,000 textual changes, 20 pages of new stories, and important new pictures.

This book tells the story of O'Day's adventures in the radio and concert business and includes colorful stories about Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Three Dog Night, The Beach Boys, and many other rock-'n'-roll legends.

The first edition received countless rave reviews, and the second edition is even better! This is a "must-have" for anyone interested in Top-40 radio and rock music.

Customer Reviews:

But I like it like it yes ah doo...........2006-07-24

If you grew up in the 60's and 70's with Seattle radio and the local dance and band scene, here's your book. Pat wrote a good one and I hope he finds time to do another. He didnt get it all because he couldnt possibly fit it all in. It also helps if you were a a radio person on the inside during that time to fully understand what that industry was going thru. Its was the swan song of AM broadcasting as a music medium. FM was right on its tail.. I met Pat when I was about 13-14 years old when a friend of mine and myself (we were considered early day geeks) wanted to go see what a 5000 watt transmitter looked like. We somehow got down to West Seattle to KJR and hounded and badgered the hell out of a poor receptionist with a million questions for an hour before she grabbed an employee who happened to be walking thru the station to take over. That employee was Pat O' Day. He spent a part of his afternoon showing us the station and all the (at that time) cool gadgets and gizmo's that made it all go together. We were blown away by it all. Never got to see the transmitter but we didnt care. That moment for me was instrumental in me getting into that business for a few years in the early 70's. THis book brings it all back. Pat will go down in Seattle history as being our own Alan Freed. Or better yet, our own Dick Clark. So many of those bands, some that still play today, you would never have heard of if it hadnt been for Pat and Concerts West. He personalized the rock entertainment industry in Seattle. Not to be compard with the awful, sanatized and over done over cost over budget way it is all done now in the world of ticketmaster etal. You'll like this book if you grew up on Seattle radio and its people. Pat talks about most all of them in one regard or another. What fun and torture it all must have been...

Tough read, but worth the memories.......2005-03-21

Having grown up in the Northwest, when I saw It Was All Just Rock n Roll II in the bookstore, I couldn't wait to read it. Evidently, the first version was filled with editorial mistakes, as well as some inaccuracies. This edition still contains some grammatical and factual errors, but it's relatively clean.

Pat O'Day was huge in Seattle when I was a teenager, and when I had to leave the area in 1969, other than my family and some friends, he was probably what I missed most about the Puget Sound. As O'Day mentions in his book, Seattle's KJR was blessed with many excellent DJ's, but there was only one Pat O'Day, and he was without a doubt, the King of disc jockeys in this part of the country. My subsequent travels around the country led me to believe that he was truly the best during his 1960-1974 hey day. It was Pat O'Day who inspired me to enter radio and forsake an effort at taking my own stab at becoming a rock and roll musician. No, instead I opted to become a radio disc jockey, and make no mistake, I wanted to be another Pat O'Day. I had my day in radio, though it wouldn?t be in the Pacific Northwest, and I never reached the heights of Pat O'Day or any of the other fine dj's at KJR.

I desperately wanted to give this book five stars. However, being an English teacher, and a harsh critic of biographical writing, I am only able to offer four. It Was All Just Rock n Roll excels in several areas, but fails miserably in a few along the way. The good points are many. For one, and this is actually a big deal, the book is of extremely high quality. The paper is very expensive, heavy, somewhat glossy, and very nicely textured. The binding is some of the best I've ever seen, and the book's end covers are made of highly durable material, though not leather, of course. This book will not fall apart. The information contained in the book is very interesting for those of us who have worked in radio, concerts, etc, and/or lived in the Northwest. O'Day gives some great insight into the world of radio, though he doesn't spend enough time discussing KJR or it's evolution. The sections on Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, BTO, and Three Dog Night are very entertaining, and perhaps too short. He tells a wonderfully amusing story about a brush with the mafia, that to be honest, had me wondering. The early years of Northwest rock and roll are covered well, but could have been more fully explored, and it would have been great to have heard from the legends of the day, such as Merrilee Rush, Gerald Rosalie, and Buck Ormsby, to say nothing of other djs from KJR or even KOL. He does give some great info about the Spanish Castle dance club from the early to mid sixties. This place was only a legend in my mind, as it was too far away for me to attend any of the dances, and reading about it really brought back my teenaged desires of wishing I had been there. It was very interesting finding out that Pat O'Day began Concerts West, a promotional company that certainly took much of my ticket buying money. I had no idea he owned it or even had anything to do with it. He relates some good stories about his days as a promoter, particularly a story out of Baltimore.

If the reader grew up in the Northwest during the 60s, this book is essential. That, however, is one of its shortcomings. Although O'Day tries to bring in the rest of the country, the scope of the book is so limited to the PNW, that anyone from Kansas will not find much of interest in the book. Also, while Pat O'Day enjoyed huge fame in the PNW, outside of it, except for within the radio industry, he was an unknown. But where moss is known as carpet, O?Day had an infinite number of fans. As the book illustrates, however, he was probably his biggest fan; which is another failing of the book, too much unlimited boasting throughout. We know he was great, the reader can tell he was great, but it would have been a nice exercise in humility, had O?Day not continually reminded us how huge and significant and important and vital he was. Perhaps, the biggest downfall, in my opinion, of It Was All Just Rock n Roll is the cavalcade of stories that have no significance to anybody but Pat O'Day, certainly none to the book. I wondered if he wasn?t getting paid per word for this book, as the stories just kept coming, and many, though well under half, had nothing to do with anything, save boasting about his friendships with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., industry heavies, presidents, maniacal killers, whoever. Pat also leaves out a lengthy period between 1975 and the present. What was happening then? Also, very little of his personal struggles. I had to wonder what became of his first wife. She's virtually never mentioned. I read every word and found myself wanting to skip about a third of the book, as it just seemed to be set on drone. As a co-writer, Jim Ojala doesn't appear to be gifted, but we thank him for at least getting the job done, even if it did take two go rounds.

I'd recommend It Was All Just Rock n Roll II to anybody who wants to relive some old memories, but be prepared for some slogging..

Book Description

Rabbi Sabbatai Sevi is one of the most controversial religious figures in all history. In The Lost Messiah, acclaimed author John Freely follows Sevi's trail and the traces of the Jewish cult that grew up around him-one that still inspires belief today. Brilliantly evoking the vanished world of the seventeenth-century Jewish diaspora in the Ottoman Empire, the narrative moves from Sevi's birthplace in Izmir on the Aegean coast of Turkey, to the ghettos of Venice and Rome, the bazaars of Cairo, and the rabbinical schools of Jerusalem and Safed, all the while placing the exotic story into magnificent context with details of the state of the current Jewish communities in these areas. As Damian Thompson wrote in The Mail on Sunday, "Everything in this book is astonishing."

The result of thirty years of research and travel, The Lost Messiah deftly interweaves the work of respected scholars-including the pioneering writings of Gershom Scholem-along with Freely's own firsthand knowledge of ancient and contemporary Turkey and its environs. From the theoretical and practical background of Sevi's messianic movement and its emergence from the mysticism of the Kabbalah, Freely describes the many early unorthodoxies that turned many in Sevi's community against him and then goes on to provide explanations for how and why Sevi nevertheless acquired an international following that continued to support and believe in him-even after his shocking apostasy and conversion to Islam in the year 1666.

Customer Reviews:

A facinating book on a little known corner of Turkish history.......2007-04-12

The Donme are one of the most remarkable groups in the Middle East. A Jewish sect that had converted to Islam but still retained much of it's previous faith and practice, carried out in secret, they dont intermarry with other Muslims while have becoming influential in various political positions in the Muslim world (Ismail Cem and the Ipekci family for example).

This (and perhaps Bernard Lewis' book but I tend to avoid anything written by him) is perhaps the only decent study of the Donme sect and its founder Sabbatai Sevi. The term Donme is a Turkish word meaning 'turncoat' it seems from the book that they were never realy recognised as true Muslims (such examples are the fact that there were specific 'Donme Mosques' in Salonika, there were never for example 'Albanian' or 'Bosnian' Mosques even though they were a distinct group that had converted to Islam) But I have no idea why a previous reviewer chose to say that Sabbatai Sevi was forced to convert to Islam as the book itself makes no such claim.

Their history is remarkable and Mr Freely goes into great detail discussing the life of the founder Sabbatai Sevi and his main student Nathan of Gaza. How the group developed and the controversy they caused in the major cities of the Ottoman world such as Izmir and Istanbul, the leaders arrest and his conversion to Islam. The book then goes into some detail to suggest where he may be buried and then the mass conversion of his followers in Salonika, how they became greatly involved particually in politics such as the Young Turk movement and even the Mevlevi order in Salonika. The book then goes on to detail their expulsion from Greece (along with all other Muslims) to Turkey and their settlement in Istanbul. How even they have a sepperate cemetary from other Muslims and their gravestones are distinct from other Turkish Muslim ones. The book also covers the history of the followers of Sabbatai Sevi in Europe who did not convert to Islam but Catholicism particually in Poland and Eastern Europe and some of the famous descendents of that group.

It is even more interesting that at the same time this book came out a similar one in Turkish was published. It would seem that this is yet another small effort of Turkey comming to terms with its past.

Well worth a read for anyone with an interest in either Islamic studies or Jewish history.

The reverse of the medal .......2005-05-04

The crucial year is Anno Domini 1666 - Hegira 1067.
In that year "Jews in various part of the Middle East and Europe were taken by a messianic frenzy... began selling their goods... preparing for their joint return to the Holy Land".
A hectic exchange of letters span the Mediterranean, but also the New world is interested: in far away Brazil Portuguese Marranos talk about unfolding events, in Boston the sermons of reverend Cotton Mother wonder about the coming end of the Diaspora.
A sense that something important is going to happen grips the entire world. For a few months time seems to stop.
Oldenburg, the secretary of the British Royal Academy writes inquisitively to Spinoza, the ten lost tribes of Israel are reported to have put Mecca under siege, the anointed Messiah is coming to restore the Jewish nation to the promised land and will humble the infidel enemy.
The world upside down.

But the climax comes to a strange result: Sabbatai Sevi, the self appointed messiah, is forced by the Turkish authorities to abjure the Jewish faith and become a Muslim.
In a sense this is the turning point but not the end of the story, like one could be easily led to think: a definite change none the less. Because most of his followers kept their faith remaining in the Jewish religion (the still existing Sabbatian Jews), some joined him in the apostasy (the still existing Muslim Domne community), some of them, still faithful to his message, joined the Catholic Church (Yes! The picturesque Frankist community).

In the tumultuous unfolding of events we are guided by John Freely to the discovery of a vanished world: the many Jewish communities (Romaniotes, Sephardis, Askenazi, Karaites, Mustaribs,...) and the many cradles of the Diaspora (multinational Salonika, Alexandria, Cairo, Izmir, Istanbul, but also far away places like Amsterdam, Ferrara in Italy and the too many communities in Central Europe).
In a sense, this book can be read as well as a travel book: to search the material, Freely followed physically the footsteps of the Sabbatians and his effort to unearth that world is in itself a real pleasure.
Most of that world has gone, wiped by two world wars and by the mad specter of nationalism: the great Jewish communities of Greece are no more, gone the royal palace in Edirne, gone the Jewish quarter in Salonika, gone the Jewish quarters of Alexandria and Cairo, but sometimes a place has been able to defy time: Berat in Albania (truly gripping the description of the city), but also the valley of Nightingales in Istanbul.

A vanished world: a multinational empire where Greeks and Jews, Turks, Armenian and Arabs coexisted. A world that was apparently much more culturally global than our own and with an area that spanned from the new world to far away cities on the edge of India. A world in which many languages coexisted: the official Turkish and the semiofficial Greek, the multinational Ladino, Arabic and Yiddish...(it is curious that Sevi was not fluent in Turkish, notwithstanding his being born and lived most of his life in Izmir).

The story is framed and intersected by the relevant historic events of the time: the fall of Venetian Candia (Crete) to the Turks, the Chminielnicki massacres in Poland and Ukraine in 1648 (one of the first great scale pogroms), the birth of the first ghetto in Venice ("ghetto" is a Venetian word), the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492), up to the failed siege of Vienna that marks the beginning of the decline of the Turkish Empire.

I resolved to read this book after I first read about Sabbatai Sevi in the biography of Spinoza (Spinoza. A Life by Stephen Nadler). Many feature stimulated my interest, not the least the strange phenomenon of an unusual revivalist movement in the Jewish Religion, the fact that Freely is also author of respected travel books about Greece and Turkey, my passion for the Mediterranean heritage.

Possibly this book is a perfect blend of history, geography and religion. I enjoyed every page of it and cannot but recommend it.
I loved this book, and yet there are parts of it that are true cameos. Between the many, this anecdote of the late 50s is sure worth to be cited in full:
"While in the station in Edirne, Abraham Galanté (one of the leading authorities in the history of Turkish Jewry) waited for a train to take him back to Istanbul, he noticed an old woman who was sweeping up in the waiting room, and singing while she worked. When she came closer he could hear that she was singing in Ladino, and then to his astonish¬ment he realized that the song was one that the Donme sang together to keep up their hopes in the long centuries of waiting for Sabbatai Sevi to return:
Oh, my beloved's gone from me, God's chosen one, Sabbatai Sevi. Though fallen low and suffering smart, Yet he is closest to my heart. . .
Galanté questioned the woman, and learned that she was in fact a Donme - one of the very few who still remained in Edirne. He asked why she was cleaning up in the waiting room, and she explained that she did this every day to make sure that it would be spotless when Sabbatai arrived. The Messiah had gone to his rest in Albania she explained, and when he returned he would surely come by train, picking up his faithful followers on the way to Istanbul from where they would set sail for Jerusalem. She was waiting to join him, she said, and then excused herself to get on with her work, continuing her interrupted song."
(pag.241-242).
Three hundred years had elapsed but still someone was keeping the faith.

If you've been so patient and kind to follow me so far, there can be a chance you share some of my passions and could be interested in other books I had the opportunity to read in the past about similar arguments:
Most specifically historical:
- Steven Nadler - "Spinoza. A Life" , more a survey of the age and times in which Spinoza lived than a specific biography of the great philosopher (see also my review)
- Dimitry Obolensky - "The Byzantine Commonwealth" an informed survey of the Byzantine legacy in Eastern Europe (see also my review)
More travel-related:
- Predrag Matvejevic - "Mediterranean. A Cultural Landscape". Nostalgia over the shores of the dark wine sea (see also my review).
- Ernle Bradford - "Mediterranean. Portrait of a Sea". Possibly the best book I read on history, culture and traditions of the Mare Nostrum.
- John Ash - "A Byzantine Journey". A poetic, fragile and luminous evocation of the Byzantine past.
- Ohran Pamuk - "My Name is Red" a fabulous novel (a must read for sure) that uses Bellini's portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror to illustrate the clash between the artistic tradition of the West (art like mirror of an ideal reality) and the Eastern tradition (art like symbol and not representation) - (see also my review).

You are truly welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
Thanks for reading.

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